COMMENT: Penalty points report highlights need for reform

The publication of the penalty points report earlier today is major step forward in tackling the ’nod and wink’ culture that persists among some in the Gardai ranks, suggests Michael Clifford.

Nobody said it would be easy. Reforming the nod and wink culture of getting a ticket “squared” by a garda is as old as the hills.

In recent decades, it has largely been acknowledged that the nod and the wink were costing lives in terms of carnage on the roads.